A Dragon's Blood
by Truth-of-a-Thousand-Lies
Summary: TenTen's history has always been a little bit sketchy. Everyone's always been a little too polite to ask. Hermione has always been a little too good at magic. When Ino and Sakura accidentally find a birth report for TenTen, will Hermione finally uncover the truth behind her lifelong nightmare, and who she really is?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Just an idea I've been playing with for a while. I'll post a short chapter. If people like it, I'll continue a full story.

Note – due to injury, and education, I've been held back from updating Breathe: Of Flowers and Sand, and whatever else I started – I intend to keep writing them, I just need to get my actual life in order, you know, priorities.

But as each chapter of Breathe is like … 10 thousand words at least, and I don't have the attention span to start writing it, and it is midnight, I thought a simple short chapter to an idea I've been playing with for almost two years now was worth a write.

Enjoy. Or don't. :3 I suck at writing – and at summaries.

-cc-

Summary: TenTen's family history is sketchy. Hermione also is incredibly adept for a muggle born witch. The two girls also look a lot alike. They're the same age, and everything. Related?

-cc-

Sakura and Ino were caught between a mountain of books and thousands of loose leaf papers. The last few candles were close to burning out, and the girls had the tedious task of organizing the Hokage Tower library. Sakura decided to tackle the medical section – everything from textbooks to patient files, from secret medical scrolls and jutsus to whatever else was labeled medical in any shape way or form. The original sorting was a hectic process.

Ino, whose back was turned to Sakura, as she would occasionally lean back on the pinkette and moan that sleep was a physical requirement and something about Tsunade being too lazy to help out, with a few comments on how evil the woman truly was, was focused on reports of the civilians – everyone who has ever been born to, emigrated from or immigrated to Konoha – whether ninja or civil – whether clan or no clan, since the dawn of Konoha was kept with intense detail. Babies that died within the first few hours of birth, and odd cases of baby kidnapping – were all in a messed up pile of loose leaf papers and disorganized and misfiled manila folders.

The girls had come to an agreement. Once the last of their candle supply burns out, they'd turn in for the night – if any night was left to turn in for.

Four candles – maybe another half hour max of light.

"Nee, Ino?"

"Hm?" The blonde picked up a manila folder that had nothing written on it and a few pieces of paper inside, and began to inspect it.

The pinkette was silent. For a moment, Ino forgot her name had even been called as she read the first report.

 _Shinten Songetsu – Stillborn._ The rest of the report was quite tedious and heartwrenching, so Ino put it aside and took furrowed her eyebrows, having come across a morbid section of her work. Dead babies.

"Sakura, you alive? What's up?"

"Oh yeah," she moved a large textbook with ease to a pile she arbitrarily made up for surgical purposes, and picked up a scroll, "Out of everyone in our year that graduated, that we're friends with, that we know and love, the only person we actually know nothing about is TenTen."

"What do you mean?" Ino tried to sound confused and interested at the conversation at hand while trying not to vomit at a baby murder case from 50 years ago.

"Well, Naruto and Sasuke, and me – my parents are known, although not a clan, they're both ninja. You, Shika, Chouji – famous clan triad for as long as Konoha can recall. Neji and Hinata are Hyuuga, we've even met Lee's father, the Akimichi, the Aburame, and then … TenTen – just TenTen."

Ino put another paper she was reading down for a second and attempted to look at her best friend and rival over her shoulder, though not much of an effort was truly made. After a moment of contemplation, she waited for Sakura to continue.

"She showed up a year in front of us. We never saw her parents, we never even found out what her last name was. In fact, I don't think her last name is even listed. She was just one day enrolled at the academy, and ended up in the circle. I love the girl, I just think she's shrouded in mystery."

Ino breathed loudly through her nose in a failed attempt to agree – her throat did not comply into actually putting a noise through, but in the silence of ruffled papers, Sakura understood.

"And I'm sure it bothers her, too. Not knowing who your parents are, where you came from, just kind of are – " Sakura let her sentence trail off.

Ino picked up another folder. She actually truly did want to respond but didn't have the strength to carry a conversation. A piece of paper slipped out. As Ino picked it up, she realized it was actually two sheets of paper, stapled together.

TenTen and Tatsu.

Twins.

The candlelight flickered as Ino's blue eyes widened.

TenTen was 2 minutes older. The picture of Tatsu showed a patch of curly brown hair. TenTen's parents were apparently murdered in a night raid of the village March 14th, when she was only five days old. TenTen, due to being slightly weak, was at the hospital that day. Her twin sister, Tatsu, was at home with the parents.

Tatsu's body was never found – presumed dead or kidnapped. TenTen was subsequently adopted. By the time she graduated the academy and became a full-fledged genin, she moved out of her adoptive parent's home.

The name of the adoptive parents were listed. Chunnin ninja in rank at the time of the report.

Ino dropped the report and blew out such a large amount of air, the candle closest to her almost died out.

"What?" Sakura threw another textbook in another arbitrary pile.

"TenTen has a sister." Ino's voice cracked, and after a moment of pure shock, slowly pushed the papers to the girl behind her.

Moments later, she heard Sakura choke on her own spit.

The rest of the details were pretty horrendous. The murderers were never caught. Tatsu was never found.

\- x – x – x -

The sun rose cascading soft pinks and purples against a lightening blue sky. The bird chirped awakening Konoha's civilians with a graceful song. Some were up before the birds setting up their shops, while most were just beginning to poke their heads out of their windows, or exit their houses and apartments ready to head to work. Snow shoveling was one of the first signs of work on cold mornings as this one.

TenTen was among those who threw her window open and breathed in the chilled air, stretching and yawning almost happily. She quickly shut the window as a cold breeze tore through her limbs and chilled her room.

She loved mornings. It was her time to get herself together, read some scrolls, sharpen her weapons, do some exercises, shower, and have a beautiful well balanced breakfast.

Most of the time when people see TenTen, she had already spent way too much time around Lee and Gai-sensei that she was at her wit's end, and annoyed beyond all reason. Eye rolling, face palming, and visible flinching along with the sarcastic remarks and brooding glances in Lee's direction was what she was known for. Most of the time when in interaction with practically anyone else she was with Lee or Gai-sensei, or both, this is the only her anyone ever saw.

Sometimes, she would sneak off from the idiots and enjoy a quiet lunch with the girls, but these days, with rebuilding and missions to make up for money lost during the war, even those outings were sporadic at best.

Her mornings, however, no one could take from her, so smiling at the rising sun, TenTen went about her usual routine.

-c-

"Should we tell her?"

Ino and Sakura had stolen away from the Hokage Tower for their morning coffee. They hoped the medic goddess wouldn't come to the tower to check on them in the next 45 minutes they had set aside to, well not organize another piece of paper.

Ino sipped her cappuccino and broke off a piece of muffin daintly, popping it into her mouth.

"Is it our place?"

Sakura sniffled and brought her cup of black coffee to her nose.

"Well, no, the only reason we know is because you accidentally came across this information."

"Yeah," Ino countered, "but if we found out Naruto had surviving relatives he knew nothing about, he'd kill us quite literally if he found out we kept it from him."

"With the exception that Naruto already knows his parents died. We don't know what TenTen remembers or what she's grown up believing happened. We could ruin her life. Think about what happened when Sasuke found out _why_ Itachi decided to kill the clan – and then subsequently when he found out the whole truth of the matter. I think in the span of like what, a year and a half, Sasuke changed four sides, had four different targets in mind, and was hell-bent on revenge against half of the ninja world, until eventually he rejoined us – which _still_ didn't stop him from having an all-out with Naruto and losing his hand."

Ino raised an eyebrow and mumbled, "Naruto lost his hand, too." Her voice was on the verge of pouting.

Sakura shot her a glare, "You get what I mean. Telling someone of what _actually_ happened is only good if the person suspects something of the sort already, or the news would make them happy. But if it completely changes their preconception of the world, it can have disastrous effects."

Silence filled the coffee shop as the girls pondered their actions, and finished their coffees and muffin breakfasts. Ino took her wallet out to pay.

"So, we tell her or no?"

Sakura bit her lower lip, smiled at the waitress as they paid, and the girls bid their goodbyes.

The bell of the door rang out happily as the girl pushed the door open and exited back into a slightly more sunlit Konoha. More people now filled the streets, happily buzzing along.

"Let's ask Tsunade and Kakashi-sensei." Sakura finally responded as she snuggled her hat onto her head, and put her matching mittens on.

Ino nodded and the two girls vanished, roof-top jumping back to their assigned spots.

As they entered back into a now sun filled Konoha library in the Hokage Tower, an angry blonde haired woman was waiting for them.

Tsunade started yelling about not being allowed to leave a post until told they were off duty, and how this was breaking Ninja protocol at its lowest most basic level, and how two jounins should be fully aware of this, and something about her being pissed that they weren't just _any_ jounin, they were _HER_ underlings.

Sakura smiled weakly, and Ino pushed past haphazardly sorted books and manila envelopes to get what she needed. Neither girl said a word as Ino simply handed the paperwork to a pissed off ex-Hokage.

Tsuande snatched the paperwork and growled almost at the girls, who now standing side by side, waited for their shishou to read it.

The blonde's shoulders relaxed, then tensed again, and she bit her lip at her loss of words.

Finally, Sakura spoke up, "We went to clear our heads and see if we should do anything about it."

Tsunade nodded.

"Kakashi's office. Ten minutes."

-cc-

It must've been ten a.m. judging from the position of the slowly rising sun that was fully and gorgeously visible from the windows of the Hokage office.

The new Hokage yawned and sighed, and hated the moment he agreed to take over Tsuande's Hokage position. The bitch only gave it up because of the damn paperwork, he was sure. She conceded a little too quickly, if she gave up a fight at all to keep her position; which in retrospect, Kakashi is adamant the woman said nothing at all about it.

A knock on his door.

It was Sunday, who, what, why.

"Hokage-sama, Tsunade-sama, Sakura-san, and Ino-san are here to see you."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Kakashi told the young chunnin guarding his door to let them in.

Tsunade made a bee-line for her secret sake stash she secretly still kept in the Hokage office, while his old student and her best friend just smiled weakly. They looked worried, and Tsunade was behaving just a little bit more unprofessionally than usual.

Usually, the woman has some sort of greeting following her entrance.

"May I help you three?" The newly appointed Hokage stared at the ass of the older woman as she rummaged somewhere in the vicinity of his desk, then moved his eyes over the two younger girls.

Ino stepped forward and placed a manila folder on his desk. Top Secret, categorized under births, subcategorized as murder.

He looked at Ino questioningly then opened the folder.

The wall clock made audible ticking noises breaking the horrendous silence that fell upon the room. Tsunade had found her mislabeled bottle of sake and taken up to drinking most of it. Sakura had made herself useful and pushed a chair in the direction of the medic goddess.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Kakashi closed the folder.

"Assemble a team, but make sure a Byakugan user is on it. Use no one of the rookie 12. TenTen's routine is to not get disrupted at all. If Tatsu is alive, find her. Do not engage Tatsu upon finding her. We'll go from there."

Tsunade nodded, and the girls bowed in thank you. Kakashi picked up his perverted book as a signal that they were dismissed.

For what was possibly the first time in the world, a ninja of jounin rank or higher finally left using the goddamn door. The stifled gasps from the guards and the secretary were audible as they tried to contain their shock that someone exited using a door.

Most enter using the door, but almost no one ever exists that way.

-cc-

Hermione woke up from a nightmare, gasping. Covered in cold sweat, she sat in her bed eyes wide open attempting to adjust to stark darkness, and the only light coming from the moon through the crack in the drapes. It took her several gasps to recollect herself, and then she threw her duvet and slung her feet over the bed. Another couple of breaths and Hermione stumbled out of the room she shared with three other sixth year Gryffindor girls. Slowly, as to not wake them, she opened the door and cast a lumos spell before walking down the hallway of the girl's dormitory to the large bathroom at the end.

She stumbled inside and cast the lumos at the chandelier illuminating all the candles on it. Another stumble and she was at the sink. She dropped her wand on the brim of the sink. The wood clacked against the porcelain as it fell into place. The sink was wet - her wand now, too. Hermione turned the water on and threw the cold water onto her face in an attempt to dispel any lasting effects of sleep still clouding her mind. After a cold drink, she turned to look up at the mirror in front of her.

Damn dark brown curls fell down her face, strands stuck to her face with water. Dark bags under her eyes gave away that she barely got any REM sleep that night. She looked someone gave her a good beating.

Hermione bit her lower lip and pried her hair off her face, tying it up in a bun.

Damn that nightmare.

They were sporadic at best. She had them the most when she was still a child, and by the age of 9, they stopped all together.

But at 13 she had it again.

Then at 14.

A numerous amount when she was fifteen.

And now at sixteen. Again.

The same goddamn nightmare every time. A murder, a horrible, gruesome murder, the sound a child crying, the moon – so visible, so white, so daunting.

The voices she didn't understand. One sounded like a mother crying out to not take the child. The others shouting Merlin knows what back at her.

Blood curling screams and visible blood spatter, as if she had seen it – the murder of that woman.

A man, too. She could've sworn a man was also present.

The forest thereafter, but only as a blur.

Her parents always told her it was some movie she watched, that nothing like that ever happened to her, so Hermione did as Hermione would always do – she researched.

She watched every thriller, every horror movie that was ever made, from Hollywood to Japanese movies – not a single one had that EXACT plotline.

Last year, she could've sworn it was actually a memory, but she dared not check. What was more important, no one knew. Not Harry, not Ron, not her roommates. No one.

Recollecting herself, she accio-ed a towel and dried herself off. Weak hands held onto the wand as she with now more courage in her step, shuffled back into her room and into bed.

Morning would come soon. Dreamless potion would help. Maybe. Hopefully.

-cc-

SOOOOOOOO HOW WAS IT? Yeah, no? I don't know. Just an idea. It'd be cool.

This takes place obviously after the end of the manga, before the Last Movie – since Naruto is obviously like 19 there at least. Or 20.

Everything is as canon. Somewhere during sixth year. Remember that Naruto wins the battle on the morning of his 16th birthday – which is Oct. 10th. Add another approx. month for the Naruto vs. Sasuke fight, and another month or two of peace and rebuilding, we are in late January time wise of the Sixth year.

Meh, I don't expect much to come from this. :$


	2. Chapter 2

Life has its way of stopping me from updating. Sorry for the extra-long wait. I hope I don't disappoint with the plot line development. Like a reviewer mentioned – this is going to be a feat to deliver for no other reason that trying to make it as realistic and normal paced as possible. I have a daunting task ahead of me and it is not beyond me to go back and rewrite and make this into an acceptable and enjoyable story.

Thank you for all those who have reviewed/followed/favorited.

XcX

First Order of Business – figure out what actually happened the night Tatsu was kidnapped. Ino and Sakura still stuck in the Hokage library had the perfect excuse to go snooping – under orders of course. They would be the main source of information on the whole ordeal. More people snooping and someone would figure out what's up. The minute that happens – well, it's not like Konoha is a huge place – word would get back to TenTen in some form. 

Even if she wouldn't realize that it was directly related to her, she would throw a shitfit over being pushed out of a crucial top secret mission. By throw a shitfit, Sakura and Ino knew that Ten Ten would never approach her superiors and demand access. She would simply constantly complain and asked to be kept in the loop even though she would full well know the restrictions on such matters.

17 doesn't exactly make you smart – no matter how many wars you survived. Sometimes the childish nature of being a teenager is exactly what they need to keep sane, to avoid nightmares.

Once again, candles were burning their last wax bits of life as Sakura and Ino, back to back, were tossing and turning the pages of all the incident reports surrounding that night in particular. Any odd movement, any weird incident, infraction, anything that was too small to get noticed at the time might be the key to unlocking the mystery of what happened.

The girls, consumed as they were by their research, didn't notice the candles go out. The last flame gave out in a flicker and silvery smoke rose in the now pitch black room, the moon as the only source of light.

"Fuck."

Sakura got up and tripped over a stack of folders.

"AH FUCK."

It wasn't that she tripped and fell that she was pissed about, it was the fact that she had just destroyed a week's worth of sorting by knocking the manila folders and their loose-leaf contents over.

"For Kami's sake, Sakura, what the fuck are you doing?" The blonde hissed, spinning around to search the dark for her best friend.

"I was trying to get more candles and ended up screwing up the folder stack we made."

Sakura could swear that Ino was pulling her face off in exasperation at the notion that all that hard work had gone to waste. She could physically feel Ino debating whether to kill her or not.

A knock came from somewhere within the room. Presumably, from the door, but at 3 A.M, any sound made that didn't come from the two directly was creepy.

The door creaked open.

"Kakashi-sama sent me to help."

"OH DEAR LORD, HINATA!" Ino spun her head towards the soft and timid voice, "ANNOUNCE YOURSELF WILL YOU!? WE HAD A FREAKING HEART ATTACK!"

"Oh my, I do apologize! Kakashi just thought that maybe my Byakugan would help."

"OKAY YES, BUT WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU HERE AT 3 A.M."

"I am not to be seen by anyone making my way to and from the Hokage Tower. Utter secrecy or something. I still have no idea what this is about. Kakashi just asked me to come meet you here in the dead of the night, and that you two would explain."

"Well move from the doorway and use your Byakugan to find the stack of candles and help us return this room to life." Sakura had piped up.

Shuffling. Shuffling. Shuffling. Light. The two girls, one seated, and one in a haphazard fall over a stalk of papers finally were bathed by light. Hinata's light purple eyes and eyebrow bone were casting a scary shadow on her face and for a split second, no one moved.

It was 3 A.M after all. Fucking Kakashi. Nothing good ever happens at that time of night. Does no one recall that haunted castle mission from a few years back?

Hinata didn't stop and let the moment sink in as it seemed to the girls that she had. She lit the candle then placed it on the floor safely away from any fire hazard.

"So, what is going on?"

The girls explained as Ino kept reading and Sakura kept sorting the mess she made.

"So basically it's just a lot of work at the moment, trying to figure out what took place leading up to the kidnapping of Ten Ten's twin sister."

"A why would also be nice, but yes." Ino added.

Silence fell on the three girls as they worked.

"Wait! Why aren't you absolutely stunned by the notion that Ten Ten has a twin sister?" Sakura looked up incredulous as it finally hit her that Hinata gave no remark of –gasp- or –shriek-.

"It's like you don't live in the Ninja world, honestly Sakura. So many mysteries surround all the families. The Hyuuga family alone had their own share of child kidnappings and murders. I mean, you guys must know what happened to Neji's dad."

"Yeah, but it's not like Ten Ten was part of a noble clan or something. Why _HER_ to be specific!?" Ino added throwing another folder of useless information onto the pile Sakura had restocked.

"Maybe that folder has clues," the blue haired girl stood up and picked up a folder that was safely tucked away under a pile of other folders and textbooks.

Ino and Sakura exchanged glances. Kakashi was right. With the Byakugan involved, this will go much faster. Hinata picked up a folder on the clans that existed around the time of Uzumaki Kushina's birth – when the Uzumaki clan was still prominent, and before they were completely wiped out safe for the few that fled to safety.

Noble Clans – from most powerful to least (Uchiha, Senju, and their offspring clans).

Clans with Kekkai-Genkai's – from most powerful to least (Akimichi, Yamanaka, Nara, Inuzuka, Aburame, etc.).

Clans – the regular family circles of ninjas.

Regular civilians from which some ended up being able to use chakra – a bunch were noted. Almost 200 pages of just names. The Haruno were part of that. Not really a clan, but able to wield chakra exceptionally well.

Regular civilians who couldn't use chakra but were still ninjas due to physical ability – such as Gai-sensei and his family, and Lee and his family.

Nothing. There was no trace of Ten Ten or her family. The girls, having finished their bits of the massive folder of paperwork, came once again to nothing. Ten Ten and her family seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Wait!" Ino exclaimed as Hinata and Sakura were putting their sections back into the massive folder in order, "One paper was stuck to the last one. There's something on it, too!"

This is where the Byakugan came in handy – they didn't have to peel away the paperwork and risk ruining it. Hinata would simply read through it.

And oh boy, did Hinata's eyes widen in surprise for the first time that night.

Once again, the last bit of wax on their candles burned, and left the girls in complete darkness.

"Oh no!" One timid Hyuuga heiress exclaimed into the tense darkness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione sat eating dinner in the Great Hall. She was more playing with her food than she was eating, listening to Ron and Harry go off about that summer, the upcoming war, who they suspected were Death Eaters. However, Hermione's mind was elsewhere. She was trying to figure out how to get a goodnight's sleep that night, and whether it was worth once again starting her research up. The nightmares felt like memories. Somewhere deep in her heart she was sure that if she looked in the right place she would find answers. The muggle world never gave that to her. Maybe with a bit of magic and luck on her side, Hogwarts would prove useful.

However, first she had to make sure that her memories were actually real, and not just very vivid nightmares. Snape had been teaching Harry Occulemency that year, and although not exactly a friend or someone she would naturally go to for help, the man _was_ skilled in the art of Legilemency and Occulemency.

She would, to keep appearances up, add on tidbits – like whether she truly thought Draco Malfoy to be a Death Eater himself at 16, and the like. Once she saw that Professor Snape had excused himself from dinner, Hermione thinking now or never, excused herself to the library.

Mid-conversation and more importantly, mid her own freaking sentence. Harry looked up at her confused.

"Um, did you forget something there 'Mione?" his words were slow and hesitant, as if he was still trying to figure out the haste with which she got up and cut herself off.

"Yeah, I left my essay on the table! Anyone can copy it! I better run before I get yelled at for plagiarism! I'll see you guys back in the tower!"

Ron just watched the exchange with his teeth half way sunk into a chicken leg. As she threw her backpack on and practically ran out of the Great Hall, he turned his gaze to his best friend questioningly.

They both then watched her hurriedly slam the doors behind her and vanish into the castle.

"Has Hermione ever forgotten an essay?" Ron finally asked, giving up chewing the chicken he had bitten into.

"No." Harry responded somewhat ominously.

-x-

Hermione pushed open the door to the DADA classroom.

"Professor!" she called out just before his robes disappeared into his chambers.

Snape retreated a few steps and raised an eyebrow.

"May I help you, Miss Granger?"

"Actually, yes. I need you to help me figure out whether the nightmares I'm having are real memories or just, well, nightmares."

Snape stood glued into his half retreating stance and yet again raised his eyebrow. He scanned her quickly. She was out of breath, and terrified of both what was haunting her and how he would respond.

"Tomorrow night, 10 P.M. Meet me by the Black Lake."

And with that, he disappeared.

Hermione stood for another 10 seconds recollecting her breath and trying to wrap her brain around the fact that she had _not_ been rejected, and then she whirled around on her heels and was met by a strong chest.

People usually think that when an objects hits another object with force it rebounds. That isn't the case with human bodies. Hermione almost broke her nose against the chest and didn't see who it was until she took a step back, reeling in pain.

"Watch where you're going, Granger."

"Malfoy! What the fuck! I'm the only person in here, you practically stood behind me waiting for me to break my nose against your stone chest."

He took that comment with a proud sneer.

"Why are you snooping around with Snape – sleeping with the professors is forbidden you know that."

Hermione could not express shock enough at his statement and tried to keep her nose from bleeding all over her robes. Taking an essay from a library desk doesn't usually incur physical injuries.

He cast Scourgify and a rudimentary heeling spell, setting her nose back in place and easing the pain.

If Hermione was to be shocked one more time in the next 30 seconds, she was sure she'd die of a heart attack – the previous panic and anxiety not aiding her chances of survival.

"Oh come off it, Granger, we don't have a public to keep appearances up for. I overheard what you said. Is that why you've been dropping your grades ever so slightly?"

"This is absolutely none of your business, Malfoy," she spat, "my best friends don't know this is happening, so what makes you think you can thrust your perfect porcelain nose into my business?"

He looked absolutely offended by her statement, but quickly recovered.

"I, myself, excel at both Occulemency and Legilemency. Perhaps I wanted to offer my own help."

"Yeah, so you could look into my brain and get details on DA and the Order. You're the enemy, Malfoy, and even if you weren't, even if this was just a stupid high school type bully situation, I still despise the ground you walk on." She pushed past him to leave but not before she heard him say, "Careful Granger, there's a fine line between love and hate when it's that powerful."

"Like I could ever love you," she whispered under her breath and let the door slam behind her.

XoXo

Ten P.M.

Hermione stood waiting at the Black Lake for the professor to arrive, and he did so, in tow with none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Before you flip out, Mr. Malfoy can be an asset to this process. He's the only one that mastered it fully so far."

"Even Hero-Complex Potter couldn't get it right, Princess, so shut your yap before you say anything you regret."

"I'M NOT LETTING HIM INTO MY HEAD!" Hermione screamed. No one was around, no one heard her. For all she knew, they could kill her and torture her now and no one would be the wiser.

Snape nodded. "Harry Potter trusts me with his brain. You wouldn't have come to me otherwise. I may not like you per-say, but I am also not going to go around and post your deepest secrets on floating notes around the school. I wouldn't put that past Mr. Malfoy here, but then again, he's aware of the consequences if he does that."

"But WHY is he here?" Hermione felt her skin crawl from simply looking at him.

"Aside from the fact that he can aid the process, like I just said, he's here to aid the process." Snape didn't like to have to repeat himself, "Mr. Malfoy will stand watch, and if you feel faint, if you don't take what is happening to you well, if you have any type of physical repercussions, he will be here to make sure that you do not die from the experience, Ms. Granger. He will not be the one entering your brain. Also, Mr. Malfoy came to me and said that your best friends were unaware of this happening to you, which means bringing Mr. Potter along was not an option?" He raised an oily eyebrow.

"Whatever." She mumbled.

"Let's begin then." Snape cast the spell, Draco took a few steps back, and Hermione lost touch with reality.

 _She was standing next to Snape in a wooden room. The floors were wooden, the walls wooden, but for its cottagey appearance, it also held class – covered in reds and greens and golds and soft purples, pinks, and blues. Images of Dragons, and strange writing covered the walls. Suddenly, they both heard screams. For some reason, Hermione knew to open the door by sliding it rather than pushing or pulling it and they ran down a dark hallway to another room with a sliding door. Flashes of something or another occurred, and as Snape was taller than her, he stood right behind Hermione as she opened the door._

 _Wandless magic – or so it appeared, was being cast. A brunette woman with curly hair was screaming and holding onto the baby in her arms for dear life. The man, presumably her husband took the baby and ran through Snape and Hermione down the long hallway._

 _Blood. Screaming. The woman was shot through the chest by something. It ripped a hole through her body, and she fell to her knees in front of her attacker. He kicked her withering body to the side as she slowly died of blood loss and was doing something weird with his hands._

 _Weird strange words followed and water came out of nowhere, formed into a dragon and chased after the man and the baby he held. The man unsheathed a sword that seemed to be pulsating and vanished into the thin air._

 _Crashing. Snape and Hermione snapped out of their daze and ran towards the sound. The exited into a beautiful moonlit bathed interior garden. The man had his head cut off, and the intruder, the murderer, looked towards the doorway in which the witch and wizard stood, almost as if he saw them, smiled, and vanished into the night._

Hermione screamed as she snapped out of it. She fell to the floor and heard Draco murmuring calming spells as his sheer strength kept her from becoming a bag of broken bones on the floor.

Her head pulsated. Her vision was blurry. What the fuck happened?

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?" She screamed using the last of her strength before she passed out.

She awoke what must've been days later, but appeared to be only hours judging from the fact that both Snape and Malfoy were still present and the night was still dark.

1 A.M?

They both looked at her as she came to and all Snape told her was that one – he had explained to Mr. Malfoy what he had seen, and two, they were definitely memories. If he was any good at his craft, he would say that the little baby they both saw was Hermione – and the only reason she had the memories was because both of her parents were brutally murdered and whether she could recount every detail was improbable, but it was bloody enough that it left some memory imprints on her in the ways of nightmares.

Hermione was about to argue Draco knowing, but she had no fight left.

Malfoy looked at her and took a deep breath.

"You do realize this means you're not a muggle?"

She scrunched her eyebrows, throat dry and unable to produce sounds much less words.

"Your parents were killed by wandless magic. Wandless magic hasn't been used in centuries – not to that extent. Also, that's not like any killing curse Snape or I have ever encountered. It looked like sheer magic contorted by rage to become a method of murder as the explanation revealed."

"Doesn't mean they were magical themselves." Snape countered Draco speaking Hermione's thoughts for her.

"No, but, something about the murder bugs me. The whole dragon thing you guys saw in the first room you went to. It's like something I once read, something maybe my mother read to me when I was a child. It's vaguely familiar actually."

"Malfoy, we're not friends," Hermione finally croaked. "I hate you, you hate me. We suspect you to be a new Death Eater, betraying this school and all. We're not going to become friends, you are not going to do any research on this, and you will forget this ever happened. Thank you for being here tonight, but the next time I see you, you will insult me, and I will insult you back, and if there ever comes a need for it, I will kill you."

Malfoy shot her a look, "Why did you think this was going to end any differently – at least I know your weakness now, Granger!" His face contoured with an evil grimace she had never seen before.

"I'll see you on the battlefield." She got up and staggered towards the castle on her own.

 _He looked at me,_ she realized, _he looked straight at me and Snape. He saw us. It wasn't an illusion. The murderer knows who we are. He has known from the moment I was kidnapped that I would find out one day. He looked straight at me. Straight. At. Me._

And so the thoughts haunted her into another week of sleepless, terrible, exhausting nights.

That is until she accidentally ran into Mr. Draco Malfoy again in the Room of Requirements.

"Motherfucker!" She raised her wand defensively as she had just simply turned from what she was doing and once again came face to face with a just as surprised Malfoy.

"Language Granger!" his voice was stern, "Don't you ever bring my mother into our rivalry again."

"Said the man who calls me mudblood." She spat back.

"A direct insult at you. I never brought your mother directly into any insult." He sneered.

"What are you doing here, stalking me?" She lowered her wand.

"Absolutely Granger, I have nothing better to do." He rolled his eyes and was about to leave, when she stopped him.

"Will you _please_ not tell anyone about what happened last week..." she sounded unapologetically desperate.

"What _did_ happen?" He raised an eyebrow, smiled mysteriously, and left the room.

XoX

It was weird, Hermione noticed, how Draco Malfoy went about his sneering, hiding, weird bully behavior as if he had never been present that Friday night by the Black Lake.

He went his merry way, making her, Harry's, and Ron's lives difficult, but never, at any point in time, did he ever even slip up and make comment of it, not even mysteriously in passing.

Shrugging Malfoy's odd behavior off, Hermione took a seat down in the library and began writing her potions essay. _But what the hell was it that her "parents" were killed with, and why did the murderer look straight at her and Snape? Why did knowing this make a certain Malfoy completely seal his lips to the ordeal? Never one to keep secrets, in fact, he'd be the first to throw anything at her if he found it to be a weakness – yet it was as if he was never even there to begin with._

XoXNarutoXoX

The Hokage Tower was a weird place to be midday. Missions were handed out in the morning, mission stats usually at night.

Sakura, Ino, and Hinata sat by the wall while a group of men were standing in the middle. Ino's father stood next to the Hokage table.

"So, these are all the people that you found had filed reports, were on duty, or were somehow mentioned in the reports leading up to the events of that night, that night included?" Kakashi asked the girls.

"Hai!" they answered in unison.

The head of the Yamanaka clan sighed and tightened his long dirty-blond ponytail before picking up a stack of papers and beginning to hand them out slowly to the crowd of men. Page one was details on the upcoming interrogation session he himself would oversee, while the second page was more of a questionnaire with generic questions to get some sort of sense of where they were and how they were all related to the incident.

"The time-table is set, everyone has their own date and time they are to show up to the interrogations unit. The first person is due to show up tonight at 7pm. I ask you to not be late."

With a curt nod towards the girls, Inoichi excused himself to go prep the interrogations room. Kakashi silenced the quiet chatter that started up among the men with a raised hand then stood from his table, hands pressed into it.

"This is S-Class ranked. I kindly request that all who do not adhere to the strict _complete secrecy_ rule will be violently executed."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at this. _Executed? Since when did Konoha execute people on the basis of revealing secrets? Usually it was only if they were given to the enemy during time of war, and not because they told their wife over dinner that they were going to be gone for a few hours that night due to something that happened 16 years ago._

She looked over at Ino who rolled her eyes. Intimidation tactics. Kakashi would never actually go through with killing them over this.

Once the group of men were dismissed, the three girls took to lounging on the chairs randomly positioned in front of Kakashi's desk.

"Okay. So we find out what actually happened… somewhat. And then what?" Ino asked.

"And then we go from there." The former teacher picked up his new Icha Icha Paradise as a form of dismissal, which Hinata took as meaning _please fuck off now_ but Ino and Sakura weren't that easily kicked out.

The purple haired girl was stopped from leaving when Sakura threw her hands up, exasperated, and yelled at the one man she'd been yelling at for years now that wasn't Naruto himself, "WE NEED A BACK UP PLAN!"

Kakashi looked up from his book.

"WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT TO DO FROM THERE. LIKE DO WE GO OUT AND TRY AND FIND HER, AND IF WE DO, HOW DO WE DO THIS? HOW DO WE EVEN BEGIN TO TRACK HER?! LIKE FINDING OUT WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT IS GREAT AND ALL BUT WHAT IF IT'S NOT ACTUALLY RELATED TO SOME RANDOM OTHER NATION KIDNAPPING HER, OR AKATSUKI, OR OROCHIMARU DOING WEIRD RESEARCH?!"

Ino joined in, "YEAH! WHAT IF WHAT HAPPENED TO SASUKE DURING THE WAR HAPPENED TO HER?!"

"What, you mean dimension skipping?" Hinata asked and let her hand drop from the door knob.

Sakura spun on her heels, "EXACTLY! HOW DO WE FIND HER THEN?!"

"The same way we found Sasuke?" Kakashi offered, putting his book down and actually considering the question. It, however, sent Sakura reeling.

"WE DIDN'T FIND SASUKE, SASUKE IS A NINJA. SASUKE IS AN _EXCELLENT_ NINJA. SASUKE FIGURED OUT HOW TO EMIT HIS CHAKRA SIGNAL, BUT FOR A LONG TIME WE THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD BECAUSE WE COULDN'T FEEL IT. SASUKE FIGURED OUT HIS OWN WAY BACK, MOSTLY."

Ino picked up where Sakura left off mid-sentence breathless, "THIS GIRL HAS HAD NO NINJA TRAINING WHATSOEVER. THERE'S NO WAY SHE'D RESPOND THE WAY SASUKE DID, DO WHAT HE DID, OR ANYTHING."

Hinata returned to the group and rested her hands on the back of the stool she vacated.

"But what if we could figure out _where_ she went, and go there ourselves?" She offered.

"AND THEN WHAT?!" the two rivals said in unison, "DO NOT ENGAGE REMEMBER!? THAT'S THE ORDER!"

"Why are you two yelling, my head is splitting!?" A lazy female drawl was followed by the Hokage door clicking shut. Tsunade walked, rather shuffled, into the room and grabbed more stashed sake, then sat in the empty seat.

"Because Kakashi is a moron without a complete plan A, and no intention of creating B and C." Sakura filled in, crossing her arms as she shot her old mentor a glare.

"Who died and made him Hokage?" Ino huffed air, her piece of hair covering her eyes flying out and then back in place over her eye.

"No one died, I was just drunk," the elder woman laughed and chugged right from the bottle.

"Um… sensei… maybe that's not a good idea."

"If you tell Shizune I will rip every muscle from every bone on your body." Tsunade shot the pinkette a glare and kept drinking.

Sakura gulped and silenced herself.

"So… any attempt to finish plan A then?" HInata spoke up, finally.

"The thing is, Kakashi is right. Without any info on what _actually_ happened that night, we don't know where to start." Tsunade corked her sake, "Wait for the interrogation to be over, and we'll all go over the files and start there."

The three girls resigned themselves of the notion that they would be able to make a plan of action right then and there, and after being told they were dismissed of Hokage library duty that night, they quietly left the office.

"They'll keep at making a plan with no info." Tsunade smiled at Kakashi as he picked up his book, put his feet up on the table and leaned back.

"Oh yeah…"

XXX

The girls had split up, went home to shower and get ready, leaving their ninja gear at home for the first time in forever, and then met up again around 6:30 pm for dinner at their favorite restaurant and bar.

Ino was the first to arrive, and ordered the usual the girls got. They had until eight pm before Ten Ten and Temari who had arrived a few days earlier on _business_ ahem _Shikamaru_ ahem related reasons, would join them for a nice drink and stroll around Konoha.

Antsy, she started tapping at the wooden table, completely forgetting to take her coat off as she stared out the window into the winter darkness. Moments, or rather years in Ino's head, passed before short pink and dark purple hair blew their way past the window. The bell of the door sounded an entrance. Ino heard the girls before she saw them as they said warm hellos to the hostess of the restaurant.

"Girl, take your coat off!" Sakura chided.

"Oh shit, haven't I?" Ino looked down and smiled sheepishly, removing her coat along with the other two. Hinata took their coats and went to hang them up as Sakura took a seat across from Ino.

"I'm curious, that's all," Ino answered the unasked question lingering in the air.

"Me too…" The girl smiled comfortingly.

"Girls…" Hinata began, "Before the food, or after?"

"During?" Both smiled and looked up at her as she tried to decided which side of the four person table she would sit on.

Finally deciding on Sakura's side, HInata slipped in and took a deep breath.

"Perhaps you're right. How are both of you holding up not being able to tell Ten Ten anything?"

"Not good." Sakura looked out the window avoiding the stares of her best friends, "She has every right to know."

Ino looked at her fingers as she played with them, "Can you imagine how furious she will be when she realized we've known for months basically… When we've researched, hunted down, located, and done everything but actually speak to the woman before we told Ten Ten she existed?"

Hinata bit her lip, "What if she stops being friends with us?"

"Naruto would…" Sakura's voice barely audible.

"Excuse me?"

The girls looked up and noticed the hostess was standing with a pile of plates waiting to place them on the table they so inconsiderately occupied with the hands and elbows. Clearing the space and mumbling apologies, the hostess smiled and said she'd be right back with the drinks.

The girls were silent until their table was fully served and smiled kindly at the older girl, thanking her for her service.

They dug in slowly waiting for Hinata to start.

"She's a dragon-born."

Silence followed, as the girls ate their meal in silence, the only sound the background chatter of the restaurant, the stupid music they usually play, probably some oriental stuff, and the clangs of the forks and knives against the ceramic plates.

That is until what Hinata so nicely blurted out actually sank in and both Sakura and Ino, as if rehearsed, choked on a piece of beef at the same time.

Ino reached for her lemonade taking a sip while Sakura grabbed her throat, coughing into the corner of her seat.

"WHAT?!"

"She's a dragon-born. Basically, she has the blood of a dragon inside of her. Not uncommon like the Uzumaki clan back in the days, it was theorized that all those whose kekkai-genkai was dragon related were wiped out along with their elemental nation dissolving 300 years ago. However, just like the Uzumaki survived in tidbits, apparently, so did some of the Dragon-born. Apparently, fearing their deaths, again, they dropped their last names completely and mingled in with their attackers."

Hinata regurgitated this information as if it was common knowledge and took a bite of her veal, chewing with poise.

Ino took a moment to collect herself and Sakura resumed her coughing.

"Is this normal to you?" Ino asked, honestly wondering why _nothing_ at _all_ could surprise this woman.

"Yes and no. Every time we find out that someone we thought we killed a long time ago ends up not being dead is like _whoa._ At the same time, the Uzumaki practically lived among us for the last four Hokages alone and no one batted an eye – they became a Konoha clan, though all of them were women, so they really couldn't belong to a clan, and all of them ended up being jinchuriki, so…" Hinata furrowed her eyebrows thinking as she ranted on.

"So Ten Ten is of this clan of this elemental nation which vanished in some turf war hundreds of years ago?" Sakura's voice was barely audible as she still was choking.

Hinata nodded looking at her, taking a drink of her orange juice.

"Does she have a bloodline limit then?" Ino, pushing Hinata's nonchalance to the side for the moment, inquired as she kept eating.

"Yes, and no."

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"She has the power to talk to, tame, ride, and whatever else, including wield the chakra of dragons, which was like the _sixth_ element, if you will. But with dragons being long extinct and no one around to teach her how to wield the powers of dragons, her bloodline limit will never again be put to use. Not until a dragon flies in from left field and goes _Ello!_ " Hinata giggled, pushing her empty plate away.

"Your impersonation of a dragon is on point," Ino's eyes turned into annoyed slits, before she licked her lips.

"So why the _oh no!_ before when you found out?" Sakura, now too done with her food as she lost her appetite while choking half to death, asked as she pushed her plate out of her way to rest her elbows on the table.

"Because rumor is that there is a reason why such a strong nation practically died over night. Apparently all the dragons – simply left. And without dragons, the nation could no longer fight off invaders – hence why they lost. Now if someone were to figure out _where_ those dragons flew off to, a dragon-born would be most vital. My initial assumption is that is why the twin was stolen – someone figured out where the dragons were – someone needed a dragon-born."

Paying for their dinner, the three girls redressed for the cold night ahead of them.

"Maybe Kakashi was right – maybe telling Ten Ten she is from some old ass, extinct clan with extinct bloondline limits isn't such a good idea a few months after she lost her best friend and boyfriend to a war."

At this Hinata's eyes darkened, and the girls hugged her quickly and apologized for bringing Neji up.

"But you're right – too much info of loss after loss is not… not a good idea to keep one sane," Ino added and Hinata stifled a cry and nodded smiling, "No one could survive that. Not even a dragon-born."

The three girls laughed and made their way through Konoha's lit streets on their way to meet a nasty sand-nin who hated the cold and a girl who had no idea how truly special she was.

\- x -

UM. OKAY. ITS ONE AM. WHAT. I DUNNO. HELP? REVIEW? Tell me if you think this is in any way okay.

The usage of Draco is simply because he is the MOST skilled at occulemency and ligilemens – or however the fuck those two words are actually spelled. This is noted in HBP and DH, and seemed like the most logical choice if this was actually going down with Hermione.

Now I DOOO quite strongly ship Draco x Hermione – and maybe somewhere down the line I'll use his whole name meaning and stuff and play into them getting together around the end of this fan fic.

Thank you for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**

 **I know I need a BETA – please know I am not writing this as a work of literature, just a little leisure project I'm working on. From now on – a chapter will be focused on Harry Potter a chapter on Naruto. If someone WOULD like to BETA the story, shoot me a message and I'll gladly let someone help me edit and work on organization or whatever else. Otherwise, I do hope it's not too disorganized, with too many mistakes.**

 **I've received a complaint that may be shared by others that are reading/following/or just started the fanfic that I'm overpowering the girls.**

 **Trust me, they remain with the power levels they have in the canon. No one is going suddenly be super awesome and insane at anything. This is a story about two girls that perhaps don't belong to either world, how they got separated at birth, and their reunion.**

 **I threw in the Dramione pairing, which I wasn't going to initially, because I honestly don't think that two people can work side by side, and find out so much about each other without there forming some sort of bond. Hermione, not being muggle or witch, automatically changes the perspective. This fic wasn't going to be done within two days or something, so there is a natural flow of time that can perhaps inspire a relationship between the two. Also, I absolutely adore the pairing. Tom Felton supports it. Enough said :3.**

 **To clear up the whole "new head of Hyuuga house." Hinata never wanted to take over – even in the canon, Hinata seems really reluctant to become head of house suddenly after her father passes away eventually. Honoring Neji's memory by making the kid "belong to the head house" simply means that the kid won't get branded with the same technique as Neji was, and will be in line to inherit and lead in the event that Hanabi and Hinata are unable to. Considering how big of a shock it was that Neji died, and how much I loved him, this is my ode to him.**

 **Don't like, don't read. Constructive criticism is great when concerning plot holes and writing in general. So please read and review!**

 **And now to continue with the story.**

\- x -

 _ **Hogwarts**_

Hermione awoke with a start.

Cold sweat ran down her body, drenching the white tank top she slept in, her curls plastered to her face. She tried wiping her forehead with the back of her hand in a futile attempt to get some of the sweat off. Her hands were just as sweaty.

She threw the covers off and made her way out of the girls' dormitory to the bathroom down the corridor. Eight in the morning – everyone else was luckily downstairs at breakfast. In the back of her head, she knew she had to come up with some sort of excuse as to why she wasn't down there herself, but she suffocated the thought in lieu of actually fixing what was wrong with her.

 _What was wrong with her?_

She walked into the bathroom and cast a spell on the water in the large bathtub to be a little colder than room temperature in order to cool off and peeling away her sleeping shorts and her tank top, slowly sank in.

She missed showers. They had showers in the muggle world – this beautiful contraption where it felt like it was raining from above and you could make the water as cold as the Arctic sea or as hot as the fires burning in hell and the sound of the water helped to dispel most thoughts.

However, the wizarding world was so used to not requiring plumbing. It had something of the sort for the toilets, but really, and overtime Hermione came to realize this, what was happening was the sound of magic vanishing excrements in a whirlpool motion. The flushing string simply set the magic already in place in motion.

Showers required a drain, required plumbing, required… well no, not really. All it honestly required was the contraption of the shower head itself – and the same spell that the toilets used could be cast on the drain while a simple _aguamenti_ cast at the shower head would create the illusion of a true muggle shower.

Hermione shook the thoughts from her head, filing it away as something to perhaps bring up to Dumbledore.

The lukewarm water hit her skin and instantly cooled her off. She sighed in content and laid back in the tub and thought back to her nightmare.

 _Blank._

She couldn't remember it at all.

She couldn't recall what was so bad that she awoke with a start.

If it was the same nightmare that she'd been having for years, she should technically be able to remember it. Maybe, she surmised, for the first time the nightmare she had was a normal one. Perhaps possessed dolls or serial killers from Muggle movies.

The water went from lukewarm to cold, and feeling a little rejuvenated, Hermione got up and out of the tub. She grabbed a fluffy white towel that hung in midair around the tub, and thanked Merlin that the tub was enchanted to produce a towel depending on how many occupants were inside of it.

She had however, forgotten her clothes. She cast a quick drying spell on her hair and body and then tiptoed back to the girls' dormitory in nothing but a towel hoping no one was back yet.

Hermione sighed in relief noting that no one had returned and dressed herself in much needed silence. She looked at herself in the mirror and furrowed her eyebrows. Never one to take care of her appearance, even she could say that she looked like absolute shit. Usually, it didn't matter – but also, usually, she didn't look like someone had removed her soul, given her a good beating and left her for dead. She had a natural color complexion with a cold undertone. When muggle shopping, she opted for the sand colored foundation and soft rosy blushes in the event that during the summer, her parents would make her attend events.

The lackluster skin tone she was staring at was as white as muggle printing paper and it really brought out the dark bags under her eyes.

 _This will cause questions. I hate being asked questions I don't want to or rather, can't, answer._

"Accio make-up." She waved her wand in the direction of wardrobe and the bag of make-up shot towards her landing on the vanity.

Some primer, concealer, and foundation. Perhaps a golden pink blush. Perhaps mascara.

She opened the tube of mascara and thought otherwise.

 _That is noticeable. The foundation isn't – to an extent._

For a split moment she thought why she just didn't use a glamour charm, and she waved her wand to return her make-up bag back to its original spot in the wardrobe and then shoved the thought away as well. Doing muggle things helped ground her. It was familiar. It was soothing. She was a muggle before she ever was a wizard.

Grabbing her book bag, Hermione checked the time and realized it was almost time for the first class of the day.

Transfiguration with McGonagall. Routine. Routine was good. Starting the day with her favorite professor was perhaps all the mercy she could ask for. Quickly, she ran out of the girls' dormitory, down to the common room, and fell into a speed walk set on making it in time for class.

Breakfast.

She hadn't eaten, but it only dawned on her when right before reaching Transfiguration, her stomach made a growling sound that echoed through the stone corridors of the castle. Damn this place and its echos. She'd go down to the kitchens between classes, grab a sandwich, and hope her stomach doesn't growl while in class.

That would just be embarrassing. Biting her lower lip, Hermione walked into class, and realized she had made it on time. McGonagall was there, but only half the class was, too. She had a couple minutes to spare and a ton of desks to choose from. Opting to sit closer to the professor, ever the good student, Hermione grabbed a table in the second row, taking her books out.

Transfiguration this year was a difficult subject. Less so difficult and more so that Hermione just found it hard to pay attention. The looming war ahead of them, the questions about whether Draco Malfoy truly was a Death Eater or not, the paranoia that set it surrounding that specific idea and all it brought with it, and her nightmares – all reasons why Hermione found it hard to concentrate on Friday mornings, yet she couldn't help but berate herself for not understanding the instructions the first time around.

It was a pain that come sixth year, classes were shared by those who managed to pass their O. versus an actual other house. Sporadically Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, and Slytherins walked through the doors. Of those Slytherins, of course, one had to be Draco Malfoy and his posse. This year, instead of Crabbe and Goyle, the posse was Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott. Pansy Parkinson wasn't to be seen, so Hermione assumed that she got less than an E.E on her O. in Transfiguration. Harry walked in right behind Susan Abbott however, and bee-lined for her looking worse for wear than usual.

"Hey, 'Mione." He huffed and slammed his books onto the table, taking the seat next to her.

She shot him a questioning look and stood to check his temperature, "Harry, you're covered in sweat, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I just, I thought that we were having class in 1B but checking my schedule I realized it was classroom 99 in the south wing, and it was hell trying to get here on time," he shot her a smile and busied himself with taking his books out of his bag.

"A huh," she bit her lip, disbelieving. It was a nice distraction to be worried about someone else – something else, so momentarily, Hermione forgot her horrendously weird morning. It has become rather usual as of late.

Harry ran his hands through his hair, somehow managing to make this bird's nest on his head messier if possible. He shot her a weary smile and gripped her hand, "I'm fine, I swear. I just…"

"Was stalking Malfoy?" she shot him a knowing smile.

"Sort of," he sheepishly admitted.

"He's too young to be a Death Eater, Harry! How many times do I have to tell you this!?" She reprimanded, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.

Harry rolled his eyes at her and opened Advanced Transfigurations, and made to respond before being cut off.

"Students!" Professor McGonagall strode into the classroom, robes billowing behind her. A woman on a mission – she looked out of sorts, a nervous wreck, as if she just found something out that was of utmost importance and hated the fact that it had to wait after class to be dealt with.

Chatter instantly stopped.

"Today we will be learning a transfiguration charm that is not in your textbooks, not part of the program. Today we will be transfiguring our partners to look like ourselves – but rather perfect clone copies, we'll transfigure them to look like twins. Every human had the possibility of having a twin during the term of pregnancy, and it is interesting how certain people find their doppelgangers through life – people that look so much like them, they could be mistaken for them."

Harry squinted at Hermione, eyes darting between the professor and her until he eventually cocked his head to the side, utterly confused, hoping the know-it-all had some answers to why in Merlin's name this was even relevant to anything.

"Why this is relevant?" McGonagall waited for the silent consensus that yes, this is what everyone was about to ask her.

"So we can see ourselves from our own points of view. Humans only ever see their own reflections – they never actually see themselves as they do everyone else. Being able to actually see yourself has interesting implications psychologically and emotionally and perhaps, might bring to light what it is to look at you from another's point of view."

"Pairings are as seated."

Hermione and Harry simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. They'd be paired with each other and not some idiot from Hufflepuff, although they do realize how rude this is, or some stuck up bitch from Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw has hated Hermione because either the clever house didn't get the most clever girl, and they either felt cheated by this or simply hated that the intelligent house couldn't outsmart a girl who sticks up for rules and then breaks them with reckless abandon. Slytherin, as per usual, is out of the question, because if either got stuck with Malfoy or Zabini or Nott, someone would end up dead by the end of class.

With a wave towards the board, the spell was written out complete with annotations of pronunciation, and McGonagall went through explaining the wand movements clearly, having them practice it for the first forty minutes of class. The final ten minutes were reserved with strict reprimand if the movements were perfect.

Once satisfied that no one would end up in the hospital wing disfigured for all eternity, she let the students use the last 20 minutes of class to try it out.

"You go first 'Mione!" Harry smiled at her, honestly curious what the girl's reaction would be to herself.

Hermione laughed and nodded and flicked her wand to the precise movements as she said, " _gemina sui_!"

However, instead of brown curls and a body drowned beneath purposefully large robes, Harry turned into a girl that looked a lot _like_ Hermione, expect with straight hair done up in two buns on either side of her head, a fringe, and a Chinese looking outfit – a white Chinese style shirt that was tighter than anything Hermione herself would wear, and blooming dark red pants that stopped short of her ankles. Around her right thigh was a black pouch, and she was not wearing Mary Janes but rather black shoes with open toes that were ankle high. Her eyes were slighter larger than Hermione's and a deeper brown and she wore black fingerless gloves – almost looked battle ready.

As Hermione was the first to successfully, or rather, unsuccessfully transfigure her twin, the whole class turned around to stare.

Hermione, _HERMIONE,_ failed?

She cast McGonagall a look of pure shock. She was sure she did it correct. The elder woman made her way down to their desk and did her own wand movements and scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

"I don't understand myself, Ms. Granger. I checked the spell – it was correctly executed. The spell says that – _this_ – is your twin," she looked warily at Harry who was now a weird looking girl.

"But that's just ridiculous. Sure, she bares resemblance, but she looks nothing like me." Hermione was adamant something had to have gone wrong.

McGonagall flicked her wand again, and then shook her head, "The casting was successful. Magic deems that this is your twin. I am just as confused as you are Ms. Granger, but then again, magic has a mind of its own sometimes. Since execution was accurate, you still get 20 points for being the first to successfully transfigure your partner into your twin. As to why your twin looks absolutely and irrevocably nothing like you, I cannot explain."

"Well there is some resemblance," Seamus from the table behind them butted in, "They have the same eye shape, and the same turned up pixie nose, and the same cheekbone and jawline. I have not seen Hermione's body so I cannot say that they rest is the same as well, but they do seem to have the same leg length and collarbone structure, as well. Perhaps you are fraternal and not identical twins?" He offered up trying to be of help.

"Yeah, but, how does the spell decide whether you have a fraternal or identical twin?" It was weird watching a woman speak in Harry's voice and everyone looked a little uncomfortable with his voice coming out of the brunette donning weird clothing.

Stunned silence followed as everyone in class pondered the idea. McGonagall broke the silence with a shrug and by releasing Harry from the spell, "If I knew, I would've told you by now. Please continue."

Hermione turned into a dark red haired, green eyed girl. Apparently, magic thought that Harry's twin would be a younger replica of his mother, and not that that wasn't possible, sometime twins were born one male one female, but seriously, the transfiguration class was getting a bit creepy.

Twenty minutes later, everyone filed out of class, some still whispering about what the spell thought Hermione's twin would look like. While everyone mostly got the intended result of the class, Hermione got confused.

Not only was it nothing like her, it looked like it came from a different era, a different time. She sighed and as per usual, decided to go down to the library and do some research.

Readjusting her books, she spun on her heels and smiled, "Harry, go on without me to the next class. I'll catch up with you. What's just happened is a little more than just bothering me, and I want to go research that spell. I'll see you at lunch?"

Harry furrowed his eyebrows, "But 'Mione, you never skip class, and Ron's gonna come chasing after you if you leave him alone in Muggle Studies."

"Ron can deal with it, just tell him the truth, and tell him if he disrupts my research, I will hex him into oblivion."

Harry laughed and waved at her while running down the corridor.

Who the fuck placed Transfiguration so far away from civilization? South Wing classroom 99 – that's just ridiculous.

Hermione however knew a short cut or two to get to the library, and ducking behind a tapestry tapped her wand on the stones in the alcove and watched them separate to form a doorway.

Hermione jumped. She jumped and wriggled her hand, she jumped and then fell off of the stool she was jumping from and twisted her ankle, the goddamn book still out of reach.

Her fall made quite a ruckus and she honestly hoped that the stingy librarian Hermione had grown to love hadn't heard. No such luck.

Wringing her hands into her robes, the short, plump woman fussed her way to Hermione.

"Dear child! Ms. Granger! I must ask of you to cease and desist automatically! You're bothering others trying to study! If you keep making noise I would be pressed to ask you to leave! This is your first and last warning, Ms. Granger!" The woman made no attempts to even help her up and Hermione groaned as she lifted her head and watched her leave back to her desk. She let her head fall back onto the ground. Perhaps falling off of a stool didn't exactly require the hospital wing, but she could've at least asked her if she was alright.

Hermione tried propping herself up on her hands and pulled her legs closer to her. She winced as her ankle started to throb.

"See, this is exactly why you don't belong in our world, Granger," a familiar sneer caused her to list her eyes and glare daggers at Malfoy.

He leaned against the shelf, his derogatory smirk aimed happily at her, but she chose to ignore him. Instead, she sat up and started rubbing her offending ankle.

In her peripheral vision, she saw him lift his wand and mutter the levitating spell she knew oh so well how to pronounce and watched as the book she was trying to reach fluttered happily towards her. He did release the spell and let it drop a good two feet in front of her with a loud bang, sniffling in delirious joy as she flinched, not expecting it.

"Try magic next time, witch. Better yet, return to your own world where there is no magic and where people will actually be sorry when you can't reach a book, mudblood."

He spat the last word, and heard a growl that came from deep within her chest as her amber eyes shot up again.

"Piss off, Malfoy."

He snickered, but turned on his heels and left.

Rubbing her ankle, and not wanting to admit that Malfoy for once had a point, she pointed her wand at her ankle recalling the only healing spell she knew, " _Episkey."_

The pain in her ankle faded slowly, and the girl got up brushing imaginary dust from her skirt. She really should learn more healing spells, she thought, then bent over to pick up the book Malfoy had all but thrown at her.

Human Transfiguration and Transmutation – Taboos and Secrets.

She blew the dust from the front cover and wondered why this book was not in the Restricted Section – perhaps misfiled. Named Taboos and Secrets, it certainly should've been.

Hermione threw all of her thoughts on wrongly shelved books out of her mind as she opened the front cover and heard the parchment crackle. It hasn't been used in a long time or perhaps ever.

Sighing, the girl ran her index finger down the table of contents until she found the chapter she was looking for.

"Human Transfiguration – Twins" She flipped open to the designated page and began reading.

 _Human transfiguration usually turns the target into a very similar, if not identical copy of the castor. Blah. Blah. Blah,_ Hermione skimmed through the basic introduction that McGonagall herself had given them, finding it useless to repeat – right now she wasn't studying. She was trying to find an answer. She could go back and reread carefully later.

 _However, in the event that the castor actually has a twin or during conception had a twin, that is what the target will be transfigured into._

Hermione looked up at nothing in particular shocked.

She swallowed hard.

She re-read that one line. Over. And over. And over.

It didn't change. She didn't read it wrong. _In the event that the castor actually has a twin or during conception had a twin…_ Did her magic believe that she had a twin?

 _DID_ she have a twin?

She would surely know if she had a twin right? Her parents at _SOME_ point would've mentioned this, brought it up. Harry may have had a twin that didn't make it. It happens that sometimes the stronger of the two "eats" for lack of a better term the other. Is that why when Harry transfigured her, she basically looked like a carbon copy of Harry except with the basic genetic differences – and still retained her robes?

And if she had a living twin instead of one she consumed during birth, is that why the magic actually changed the clothing as well – even gave the twin a specific hair style – because someone out there in the world, Hermione had a twin who currently was donning that specific look?

 _What the living fuck._ Hermione was slowly finding it hard to breathe, her heart racing in her chest as her eyes hurriedly searched the pages of the book for answers.

Even in her nightmares – the one in which everyone dies, the one in which she gets kidnapped apparently, the one Snape told her was true – even in those nightmares, memories, whatever the fuck they were, she never saw another girl anywhere.

So if she had a twin in those first few months of her life before she was kidnapped, which she still didn't fully believe were _actual_ memories, who the fuck – where the fuck was she?

Hermione slammed the book shut, cast a glamour charm on it, and ran out of the library – she would need to read that whole chapter and take careful notes on it. Something was wrong. Maybe, once she was done reading, she would go back to Snape and have him do Legilimens on her again.

Maybe Snape could see through the apparent memory and take his time searching it – perhaps another crib, something that would indicate another baby at some point was present. After her kidnapping was she returned home?

Hermione could feel a panic attack coming. Her chest constricted, her breathing labored, tears furiously falling down her face and she tried to breathe and failed. She ran and ran and ran down the twisting and taunting cold stone walls of the corridors, going nowhere in particular before she slammed into a dead end corridor, never used, and sank down the wall and cried, her world, reality, spinning out of focus. She may have vomited, she may have cried so hard the entire castle shook, and she may have forgotten to cast a silencing charm around herself. She didn't know. All she knew was that as reality began to spin, reality also faded with her thoughts and she must've, at some point, passed out.

 _ **I have a twin. Apparently.**_


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, I've been using this website for years, and I still don't understand why it keeps making all my breaks disappear. I keep having to use letters and that thin grey line that does the separation keeps vanishing on me. So I'll have to use letters for there to be a clear distinction – if anyone knows how to get that clear grey line, please review or PM me with the how-to. Thank you!**

 **Edit: TenTen ends up pregnant in a different fic I'm writing. I confused the two momentarily. For the purpose of "A Dragon's Blood" Ten Ten is definitely not pregnant. I'm sorry that I made this mistake!**

xXx

Ino awoke to a stack of paperwork.

 _Ah fuck, I fell asleep in the damn library again!_

She rolled her eyes at the sight of the mess and tried to get up before realizing she was in a shitload of pain.

 _Ah motherfucker!_

She rolled her neck around to get the crick out of her neck and proceeded to stand up, dusting her knees and skirt off. The door handle clicked behind her and Ino slowly turned her head to see who it was.

"Sakura-pig! You left me here all alone in this stupid position to sleep! If you tell me you went home at some point, I'll actually consider killing you."

Sakura scoffed, "Actually? Consider? So you're saying all your previous death threats were empty taunts?" The girl sniffed her coffee comically before handing Ino her preferred coffee mixture: 80% black, 20% low fat milk, and three sugars with a splash of chocolate for taste.

"Thanks." She breathed out into the hot Styrofoam lip feeling the heat waft up through the small mouth piece, but not before shooting Sakura a glare.

"Also, no I didn't go home and sleep, I slept in that pile of shit over there," Sakura nodded to her head at a stack of crumpled papers, obviously distorted by a sleeping body, "I just got up before you did and thought to grab us coffee."

Ino looked over in the direction, before turning her whole body to face the mess, "It is never ending. Honestly. It's already been what, two weeks since we started, and it seems like the mess is getting bigger, not smaller."

Sakura choked a bit on her coffee, before giggling, "And we didn't even take a break when that whole TenTen thing went viral."

Ino sighed and slumped back against the far wall closest to the window, watching the sun's early rays light up the stuffy library. The girls drank their coffee in peace, Sakura reading some medical text almost out of complete boredom, flipping through the pages as if only every random page, something of interest would catch her attention. The cool wall let Ino's mind wander as her eyes closed against the pleasing feeling.

"I do wonder what her reaction will be like when she finds out," The blonde whispered to no one in particular.

"She won't – not until those Tsunade will appoint to research the case deem it appropriate to reveal. If there really is no use in bringing this info to light, why ruin the girl's life, turn it upside down. For all we know, the girl may have been killed soon after being kidnapped, has died due to other reasons in the meantime, or is simply nowhere to be found." Sakura finally looked up, throwing the large volume beside herself, ignoring the noise it made as it dropped.

Ino rolled her head to look at the pinkette, made to respond but only sighed.

"Pig, listen, all we can do now is pretend we never discovered that information. If the news are to be revealed, then we'll deal with it then. Right now, we don't even know if there is any trace. Plus, we weren't assigned the mission to find out _why_ the girl was kidnapped to begin with. What if they weren't looking for Ten Ten, but rather did want Tatsu. What if they didn't make the mistake – it would explain why no one ever came back for her. Take a deep breath. It'll be fine."

"I know, but I can't imagine what she'll do when she finds out _WE_ knew. All along. We KNEW the whole time. We were the ones that instigated it. We literally set it off in motion, and we didn't TELL her. You know I live with the girl, right? I feel like I signed myself up to die."

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at this, and Ino threw a book at her the medic easily deflected. A smile broke out over Ino's face. Ironic, them being ninja and all, having signed away their rights to a safe life at the age of six basically – cementing it with becoming genin officially at the age of 12, and having recently fought a war.

"You KNOW what I mean by that, Pig!" Ino giggled.

"No, I don't. What DO you mean by that?" Sakura was enjoying playing with her.

"Just that, Ten Ten is a weapons mistress. I don't want to stay on alert in my own bed. Also, I wouldn't put it past her to slit my throat in my sleep."

Sakura doubled over hearing this, "I'm sorry," she wiped away imaginary tears of laughter, "I just imagine a really pissed off Ten Ten using like fifty different weapons to kill you while you're dreaming of Sai."

Ino looked comically offended by this statement, "SAI?"

"Oh come off it, everyone knows you two are…," Sakura wiggled her eyebrows dangerously.

"For your information, no we are not. I have the hots forsomeoneelse." Ino spoke the last bit into her cup of coffee.

Intrigue befell Sakura's face, "Excuse me."

"Ilikesomeoneelse."

"You'll have to speak up louder, kiddo, I can't hear you." Sakura grinned evily.

"I LIKE SOMEONE ELSE OKAY!?"

Sakura cried, kicking her feet out as she clutched her stomach, throwing her head back into the bookcase. Forgetting where she was momentarily, she smashed her head into the hardwood of the shelf and winced, and the whole scene had Ino bending forward in pain from laughter.

"FUCKING PRICELESS!"

Sakura shot her best friend a glare as she gathered chakra in her hand and healed the back of her own head.

"Bitch…" she muttered which sent Ino into another fit of giggles, "So will you tell me who you like?"

Ino stopped laughing, "No."

"CHILD, I AM YOUR BEST FRIEND!"

"I AM NOT A CHILD!"

"WELL WHAT KIND OF ADULT DOESN'T ADMIT THEY HAVE FEELINGS FOR SOMEONE BUT RATHER _CHILDISHLY_ PRETENDS THEY DON'T?"

"THE KIND OF ADULT THAT KNOWS THAT THE FIRST THING YOU WOULD DO IS GO RUNNING TO THAT PERSON GOING, 'OH INO LIKES YOU!'" Ino countered. Two could play this game.

"RIGHT, BECAUSE I HAVE THIS MASSIVE HABIT OF DOING THAT. A WHOLE RAPSHEET OF SNITCHING!"

"YOU'RE JUST GOOD AT HIDING IT WAS YOU WHO SNITCHED!"

The girls fell back into laughter and let the humor wash over them as the sun came up higher.

"So you seriously won't tell me," Sakura tried one last time before crushing her to-go cup and throwing it leisurely across the room into the bin.

"Not a chance in hell," Ino smirked following Sakura's example, before getting up and dusting her ass off again.

"Breakfast?" The blonde looked up from dusting herself, blue eyes hungry pits of dark blue.

"Best idea you've had all morning." Sakura got up and made her way to the door, holding it open.

"I haven't had a single idea all morning, what the fuck you on about," Ino smiled, amused at her friend's antics.

Sakura just smiled, "What I'm on about is you…" but the voice trailed off, followed by a slightly more distant protest as the door locked shut as the two girls walked out, heading to their usual breakfast spot.

-x-

Raido Namiashi and Yugao Uzuki stood in front of the Hokage's desk.

Tsunade rested her chin on her interlaced fingers, hands propped up on her elbows, seemingly in deep strategic thought, before she dropped her head and sighed, "Ah I need a good swig of sake," she moaned.

Yugao winced. Raido looked absolutely petrified.

"Hokage-sama… what exactly do you want us to do…" Raido started, trying to brave through the meeting.

"We've been here for thirty minutes," Yugao added, pulling her long purple hair over her shoulder. Konoha's heat was getting to her. Briefly, she wondered why she didn't just cut her hair. Briefly.

"And you've yet to speak to us." Raido completed that sentence and then gulped as Tsunade's eyes transfixed themselves on them, the amber eyes piercing.

She opened her mouth as if to speak, and then leaned back in her swivel chair, turning towards the huge windows behind her desk in a single fluid motion. She stood up from the desk and walked towards the windows, her hands clasped behind her back.

"You know Ten Ten?" Posed as a question, but not really vocalized as one, Tsunade still waited for the affirmation from the two.

"Um, yes. We've come across her a few times since she made genin." Yugao commented.

"What do you know of her history?" Tsunade looked over her shoulder at them, then returned to face Konoha.

Raido cast his eyes towards the hardwood floor, trying to recall, but came up blank, "Um, nothing, Hokage-sama."

Yugao bit her lip, "There was something a very long time ago that I overheard the older ANBU members talking about. I had just made chunnin, I think. I was coming back from a training session and was granted permission to use the ANBU showers and changing room. One of the older female officers commented in passing how a horrible murder had occurred. The father was from some clan, but the mother was not affiliated with the ranks or a specific kekkai-genkai. They had twins. One was kidnapped, the other was in the hospital, and on the night of the kidnapping, both parents were brutally murdered. It wasn't a high profile case. I think I recall them saying their names were Tatsu and Ten Ten."

"You are correct." Tsunade turned on her heel and walked back to her desk, resting her palms on top of it to support her weight, which was 90% boob. Through the loops of dusty blonde hair that fell on her face, the woman looked at them somberly.

"Does anyone know TenTen's last name?"

Yugao and Raido shook their heads.

"Believe it or not, there is no last name on file. No clan affiliation – no familial affiliation at all. However, it was interesting that there was a kekkai genkai involved – from the father's side anyway. It was dragon specific – a creature that died out eons ago, and the kekkai genkai was rendered useless, though apparently it does transfer its usage over to other types of lizards. Little is known of that kekkai genkai, but it is believed it simply gives the user an advantage to work with that specific animal type – similar to the Inuzuka clan. Without training, it's rendered useless. Without the animal familiar actually present – it's rendered useless."

Yugao and Raido were now openly confused.

"Okay, so why are we here."

"Well, what reason did anyone have for kidnapping the child of a man whose kekkai genkai was practically useless? Was killing the parents necessary because they got in the way, or was it to ensure that no one else from that clan was left alive? Why kill an already dying clan that no one even knew existed?"

Tsunade's questions left them speechless. All valid questions that no one had any answers to. Why _was_ that murder an occurrence to begin with?

"I'd like the two of you to go out and solve the mystery. After 17 years, there is a high chance you'll find nothing at all. But I think we owe it to them to finally solve the mystery surrounding their murder. The reason you two were chosen is because you have the least amount of interaction with Ten Ten and her friend group. She can, under no circumstance, be aware this investigation is taking place." With that, Tsunade turned to face the window once again.

"Hokage-sama, where do we even begin?" Raido asked, exasperated, confused, and feeling a little less than hopeful.

However, it wasn't Tsunade that responded, it was Yugao, "Well, where you always begin. The scene of the crime." She smiled kindly at Shizune who handed them both copies of mission stats, and bowed respectfully.

Tsunade just waved her hand over her shoulder, "Exactly. You are both dismissed."

-x-

Outside, Raido was the first to open the manila folder.

"This is gruesome as all living hell, what the fuck?"

Yugao cast an unsure glance in his direction, "I find it funny when you say that after literally _everything_ we've been through in the span of a year and a half."

"War is different, Yugao-chan. Attacks and mission deaths are different. Random murder however is – purely of your own volition. During war, you're under orders. When you attack, you're under orders. When you die or kill on a mission – it's survival and/or orders." He snapped the folder shut, "This… this is just someone killing a family, taking their daughter, and leaving without a trace into the night."

Yugao opened her mouth to speak but Raido cut her off, "And before you bring up the kidnapping and the Hyuuga clan – the Hyuuga clan are one of the most powerful clans … ever. There's a clear reason behind that kidnapping – you always have something to go off of. Yugao, admit it – there's no reason to kill a family whose kekkai genkai wasn't even a threat to anyone other than a summer lizard."

Yugao smiled at the last comment lightly, but she had to concede. Something about senseless murder did have a different ring to it, a different feel.

"So where are we going?" she asked as they finally stepped outside of the Hokage building.

"The village where Ten Ten was born is apparently only 30 minutes away from the main gates through the south forest. According to the report on the village, it's a farming village with a population of a 1000 people. No clans, and only a few of them have decided to join Konoha's ninja ranks within the last two decades."

"Well, then that is where we go." Yugao took the lead and vanished from behind Raido.

 _Fuck._

-x-

Ten Ten walked back into the little apartment above the flower shop that she shared with Ino. The war ended a little less than four months ago, and a lot of things were still in process. Ino's mom, however, couldn't deal with living in the same apartment where she raised a family, so she moved out. They had heard that when the initial report came back that headquarters were bombed by a bijuu bomb, and that everyone was dead that it was around 8:30 pm, and she had just finished making dinner. The woman had fallen to her knees, crying out bloody murder as sobs racked her body. Her daughter was still out there.

In the following month, all of the burials had taken place. In the following month, no one so much as smiled. It was after the funeral that Ino's mom packed her stuff and found a nice apartment on the other end of Konoha to live in. The flower shop and all the memories within would've permanently made her go insane.

Ino, after her mom left, redecorated the home to have a little reminder of her previous life around. Certain things she kept in memory of her dad, like his favorite spice that no one else liked in the cupboard, and that one photo of the family firmly taped to the fridge door, and the odd little sticky notes he would leave around the house with training reminders. None of those things were touched – but everything else was pretty much redecorated to suit Ino's personal style. Lilac walls.

That was one thing that Ten Ten would scrunch her nose at every time she walked in. The fucking apartment looked like a bunch of lilacs had thrown up, quite literally, into the apartment: a floral arrangement gone horribly wrong. She said that once and Ino was close to actually brutally murdering her. Ten Ten moved in because she couldn't sleep. Images of Neji's death kept flooding back and she would wake up, well really they both would, in the middle of the night screaming out. Ten Ten for Neji, Ino for her father.

The duo were always friends, now they were just really close friends _and_ roommates. Ten Ten found that she found comfort and peace and well, home in the small apartment she and Ino shared about the Yamanaka flower shop.

Ten Ten threw her bag onto the dark blue couch and threw herself back first onto it, groaning as the memory foam of the seat sucked her in gently. It had been another rough day at the tactics division.

Rubbing her eyes she looked around the dark apartment. Ino was still off probably sorting out the Hokage library with Sakura. Deciding to make dinner for her roommate, she grumbled and like a sloth made her way to the kitchen. From the corner of her eye, in the dark corner of the kitchen, Ten Ten saw a manila folder that said "Top Secret" on it. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, but then ignored it. If it was Ino's folder, it could possibly be a new mission she was assigned to. Respecting boundaries and laws of her village, and honestly not wanting to worry about the safety of her best friend and roommate, Ten Ten's attention returned to the pile of vegetables Ino had organized by color and nutrition next to the sink.

Rolling her eyes at the blonde's ridiculous attention to detail, she grabbed a cucumber and began cutting.

 **A/N: I live on reviews! 3 Thank you for reading!**


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